Although the Dakota people are friendly as a whole, there are those who hate the whites. Bigotry spreads on both sides of the river. Men, who would gain from their demise, harass and belittle the Indian way of life. Then in August of 1862, Chief Little Crow, one of the calmer voices of the Dakota Nation, declares war on the "cut-hairs and those who take the white ways." Caught in the middle of a civil war, Sophie loses her son and is taken captive by Killing Ghost who plans to make her his princess.